ozemp-ick?

wrestling with weight loss injectables as a HAES provider

Within my clinic, I operate as a PA, though with a strong focus in nutrition. This has been my dream for many years, and I’m so grateful my colleagues view me as a resource to provide robust counseling for patients who are looking to make nutrition changes in their life.

(side note: we have a wonderful team based approach at my clinic and I refer to our dietitian folks often - they’re amazing! Though when patients have questions about nutrition and specific medications, either going on or peeling back medications, I am often utilized in this dual-role).

I thought a lot of this counseling would be centered on helping patients get off medications, and using nutrition to improve energy and mood. Though what I’ve found is the vast majority of patients present to appointments with the singular goal of losing weight.

I fully recognize that I’m just getting a small window into someone’s life in these appointments, and maybe this weight loss goal came from the media, or maybe from decades of internalized messaging from the healthcare system. As someone who provides care within a health at every size (HAES) framework, aiming to dispel the myth that weight and health are synonymous, this has been really interesting to reconcile.

Given I have a background in nutrition, medicine, psychology, intuitive eating, and social media, I feel uniquely well equipped to counsel patients on this topic. Though despite this background, the weight loss injectables craze is the subject in my practice that is one the most burn-out inducing for me.

In this post, I’m talking about what GLP-1 agonists are (think: Ozempic, Wegovy, Victoza, Saxenda), how they work, my opinion on them, how I counsel patients about them, direct scripts I use during my patient care encounters, why they’ve contributed to some of my burnout, their benefits, and resources I recommend to patients. You’ll get my perspective as a family medicine PA, nutritionist, and human.

Of note, I am mostly talking about this class of medications when they’re prescribed for weight loss, not when they’re prescribed as an adjunct for diabetes care. And for those who are triggered by talking about weight loss, this may be a post to skip.